Rice-drier.



m4660300. Patented oct. 3o, moo.

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(Application led June 7, 1900.)

. (No. Modal.)

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LoUIs'W. HAsKELL, or SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

RICE-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 660,900, dated October 30, 1900. Application flied June 7.1900. sans No. 19,410. (remodel.)

T0 all whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS W. HASKELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Savannah, in thecounty of Chatham and State of Georgia, have invented a new and Improved Means for Hardening and Drying Rice and other Grain, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a simple and effective means for drying grain artificially immediately after the harvest and while it is still green or to dry grain which has been wet or harden soft grain.` rThese means usually consist of a suitable chamber or chambers, in which bags or equivalent vessels forgrain are supported in such' mannerv that air may circulate between and around them, devices being provided for connectingV corresponding bags in the chambers or for retaining the grain in the bags within the chamber for a certain length of time. Devices are also included for circulating dry heated air within the chambers, directly-applied heat being avoided. Experience demonstrates that drying grain in this manner especially hardensrice, to .which these means are particularly applicable, and renders it especially fit for the peculiar milling opera.-

tions to which itis subjected.-

The invention consists in the novel construction and ,combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying` drawing, forming a part of this specification, in which is represented a vertical section through the improveddevice, sundryof the bags employed to hold the grain being in side elevation. i

A represents a receptacle of any desired character and of anysuitable size. This receptacle is shown divided into four vchambers-three drying-chambers B, B', and B2 and a lower chamber C, adapted to receivev the dried grain. This division of the receptacle is effected through the medium of horizontal partitions or oors 10, 11, and 12. These partitions or doors may extend from side to side of the receptacle; but usually the bottom partition 12 only is of such size and the upper partition 10 is made to engage with :the left-hand side of the receptacle, stopping short of the right-hand side, while the intermediate partition or iioor 14 stops short of the lleft-hand side of the receptacle and extends to the righthand side of the same. A heater is located at the exterior lower portion of the receptacle.

the .connection being effected through thel medium ofa suitable tube 15.

At the upperportion of the opposite side of the reeept-aclea Sturtevant fan or other form of suction-fan 17 is located. 'lhis fan is suitably driven, and its casing has a tubular connection 18 with the interior'of the upper drying-chamber B. operation, air is drawn from the tank 13 and is made to circulate through the chambers B, Bf, Vand B2, finding. an exit at` thefan, and the air which Vpasses, through the tank 13 is heatedby means of a coil 16, located in the said tank and connected with any s'ourceof heat supply and discharge. 4 f

Series of bagsDor other receptacles are located in the chambers B,B',' and B2. Thesev 7o When this fau is in bags are shown circular in cross-section, al- A though they may beof any ,desiredshapa and they consist of a body made of reticulated or'perforated material,=each body having a rigid head 19 at each end, and each head is provided with a tube 20, one of lthe tubes being an inlet and the other an outlettube. Usually the corresponding bags in all of 4the drying-c hambersare connected, sothat when a series of chambers is usedlhe bags arrearranged in transverse and` vertical series. The inlet-tubes 20 for'the bags in the upper chamber B extend through the top ofthe receptacle A, and the outlet-*pipes atlhe lower ends of these bagsin the upper chamber con'- nect with the inlet-tubes of 'corresponding bags in the next lower drying-chamber, the

connected tubes passing through the'fioor or partition 10, and the lower tubesv belonging to the bags D in the drying-chamber B' eX- tend through the i'loor or partition 11 and' connect with the upper tubes of the bags.

located in the lowest drying-clilamber B2, while the lower or outlet tubes of these series of bags extend through the lower partition or ioor l2.

Cut-offs 2l are used in connection with each transverse series of bags in each dryingchamber, the said cut-olfs being located above the iloors or partitions 10, 11, and 12, and these cut-offs may be in the nature of slides, as illustrated, each slide having openings therein, designated as 22, adapted to register with the space in an outlet-tube 2O of the bags D. Thus it will be observed that material may be retained in any one or more series of bags in any one or more drying-chambers, or the material may be delivered from the bags in one drying-'chamber to the bags in the next chamber, or the material in the bags of all of the chambers may be simultaneously discharged therefrom into the receiving-chamber C when the grain treated has been properly dried. A hopper or other receptacle 23 for the green or wet grain is placed on top ot the main receptacle A, and a slide 24 is located in the bottom of this auxiliary receptacle or hopper having openings 25, adapted to register with the inleletubes 2O of the upper series of bags D. This slide is operated from the exteriorot' the device, and through its means the supply of green material to the bags may be cut olf or turned on at any time.

I desire it to be understood that the current ot' air may be made to more horizontally in a chamber which is low and long or can be made to move vertically in a chamber which is high in proportion to its other dimensions and that a single drying-chamber may be used or a number of connected drying-chambers may be employed, placed one above the other, and the d raft may be made to return several times, if necessary, so as to take longer to pass through the grain and to serve the purposes ot' uniform drying. The temperature ot' the air must be maintained at such a degree that it .vill not impair the delicate starchy structure of the rice or tend to partially cook it. It will be observed that through the means I employ for drying and hardening grain a great volume of air can be used at a comparatively low tem perat-ure.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- l. The improved grain drying and hardenin'g apparatus, consisting of a chamber having an air-inlet at one side and an air-outlet on the other side, at diagonallyopposite points, a series of transverse apertured par titions, the intermediate ones having an airpassage at their alternate ends, apertured slides arranged on all the partitions, several series of independent reticulated grain-receptacles haring rigid tubular hea-ds that suspend themjrom all the partitions save the lowest, and rigid tubular discharge ends adjacent to the slides, said receptacles being separated to allow free circulation of heated air around them on all sides, as shown and described.

2. In a machine for hardening or drying` rice and other grain, a receptacle divided into chambers, the various chambers having outlet-s and inlets, a hopper for the supplyof material and located at the inlets in the upper portion of the machine, bags having inlets and outlets suspended between the inlets and outlets of the various chambers, in connection with the inlets and outlets of said chambers, corresponding bags in the several chambers being thus connected and the divisions of the chambers being so formed that air may circulate through all of the chambers from the bottom chamber to the upper chamber, cut-offs for the inlet-s and outlets of the bags, an air-heater located outside of the receptacle and connected with the lower-most chamber thereof, and an exhaust-ian located at the upper chamber of the receptacle at an opposite side to that. at which the air-heater is placed, as described.

[n testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence ot' tWo subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS W. HASKELL.

Witnesses:

L. C. WILKINS, J. W. B. CoHENs'rEIN. 

